Witness
by Booksong
Summary: So much went unseen between Sokka and Suki in The Southern Raiders...could they have secretly made the biggest step of all?  A Sukka wedding theory.


**A/N: The idea from this story was inspired by a drawing made by a good friend and fellow Sukka fan on ASN, who postulated that after the events of The Boiling Rock and The Southern Raiders, Sokka and Suki might have wanted to ensure that before they went off to war, there was already something between them. Together, she and I became convinced, and the theory was named the "Secret Wedding Theory". The enemy birds and the significance of Sokka's flower necklace are also of our joint creation. Enjoy. **

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"This is a very important job. I hope you recognize that."

_Honk-chirp._

"Seriously, this is a huge deal. No one else will ever see this. You have _duties_ to fulfill."

_Honk-chiirrrp._

"That's better. But I mean it, one peep out of line...!"

"Sokka, are you practicing to be a father already?"

Sokka turned around to face Suki, who was standing at the edge of the clearing with her arms folded. He looked indignant.

"I'm just informing our audience of the importance of this event."

Suki covered her mouth with one hand, but even that didn't completely stifle the giggle that rose up in her. She thought she'd laughed more in the few days in his company than she ever had before. Now, the scene that faced her was simply too funny for her to hold in her mirth.

Sokka had been very seriously carrying on a mostly one-sided dialogue with about ten small birds that were perched on the heap of boulders on one side of the clearing. They were black with white stomachs and striped beaks, and had a strangely pleasant nasal chirp that they uttered every few moments. Sokka had identified them as "enemy birds", a label that had completely confused Suki until Sokka had explained the reasoning behind it, which had consequently sent her into more chuckles.

Now, Sokka came toward her, took her hand, and led her over to the gathering of birds. Waving one hand grandly, he announced, as if presenting to her a prestigious group of elders, "Suki, meet our witnesses."

She looked at her boyfriend in smiling disbelief. "Birds are going to be the witnesses at our wedding?"

"Shhhhh!" Sokka put his hand over her mouth. "Someone will hear you! Don't say it out loud." He continued in a stage whisper, "Who else do you want me to get? We're in the middle of the Fire Nation, and it's supposed to be a _secret_ wedding, remember?"

"Ah…right." Suki grinned at the serious look on Sokka's face. "So, are you ready now that you've instructed our…witnesses?"

Sokka swallowed, a nervous look replacing his sternness. "I don't know if I'll ever be ready," he said softly.

Suki knew how he felt. It was one thing to be in love with someone, one thing to want to spend the rest of your life with someone. But to stand up and say the words that would make it real…it felt so…_big_.

"But it'll be war soon, Sokka. This might be our last chance." Suki used the reasoning that had driven them both to this in the first place; that and the fact that both of them were sure of their choice.

Sokka nodded. Wordlessly, he put his arms around her and drew her close. For a moment, they stood there together, silent and thinking about what they were about to do.

_Honk-chirrp._

Suki giggled unexpectedly. "I think our witnesses are getting impatient."

To her relief, when she drew away, Sokka was smiling too. "Well, then we'd better do this, hadn't we?"

The last rays of sunlight were fading from the trees. The clearing they had chosen was not grand, but it was right for what they had in mind. The heap of boulders served as the head of the "aisle", with the birds perched in a neat row on top, the only audience.

Suki smoothed her hands over her ragged clothing. She had never imagined getting married in a prison uniform, but it seemed almost appropriate for this. Because it wasn't a traditional ceremony by any means.

There wasn't really anyone to walk her down an aisle. There wasn't anyone to read the vows. So they just skipped straight to the main part. _The important part_, Sokka had said.

Suki held her hands straight by her sides as she faced Sokka beneath the spreading branches of the largest tree in the clearing. Her heart was thudding wildly, and she couldn't decide where to place her eyes. Finally, she forced herself to look straight into Sokka's face, even though it made her feel unbalanced in the best way possible.

With a slight, self-conscious little grin on his face, Sokka reached into the pocket of his tunic and withdrew something, careful and delicate. He spread it out across his hands, cradling it as if it were a priceless jewel.

It was a flower chain, as simple as could be, just a small string of colored blossoms tied together. But just looking at it, and at the way Sokka offered it to her, Suki's breath caught. It was just the same as a betrothal necklace, or any other token of love. Maybe more.

Sokka moved forward carefully, keeping his eyes locked on hers. He held the flower chain between his fingers, lifting it toward her, asking silent permission.

And despite every misgiving and nervous flutter that had needled at Suki since they had agreed to do this, she had no thought of doing anything other than bowing her head. With a gentle tenderness that brought a lump to her throat, Sokka settled the chain around her neck, letting his fingers rest against her skin for a moment. Suki experienced a crazy and momentary urge to lunge forward into his arms. But she held still until he withdrew. Even then, his hands reached for hers, maintaining the contact.

Suki had thought long and hard about what she could possibly give Sokka in return as an exchange of vows. In the end, she too had decided on something simple. Besides, it had almost seemed like a sign when she'd found it this morning on the cliffs.

Gently, she loosened one hand from Sokka's so she could reach inside her garment to untie the tiny object she had put there earlier.

It was a stone, just the right size to fit snugly into a cupped palm. It had been naturally smoothed, which led Suki to think that it had been rolled in the ocean and tossed up onto the cliffs during some long-ago storm. It was banded with blue and gray, a swirling pattern of color that changed if you tilted it the right way.

Unknown to everyone, Suki had spent at least an hour rubbing it against a boulder, wearing away the sides until she had carved it into a rough semblance of a heart. It was so simple, almost silly; a token gift, not a wedding promise.

But just as she had reacted with Sokka's necklace, she saw his eyes widen with awe when she revealed the stone. He took it from her as reverently if it were glass, not rock; as if he were afraid it would shatter.

Suki wondered if they should have saved the present-giving until after they had spoken the vows. Because she wasn't sure if she would be able to speak now, past the lump in her throat.

They stood looking at each other, one hand of each of them still entwined, their free hands touching their gifts.

An "enemy bird" honked softly in the background.

There were many different kinds of union ceremonies and vows throughout the world. The Fire Nation, the Water Tribes, the Earth Kingdom, and the Air Nomads all had their own versions of the ritual. Even Kyoshi Island had its own.

But Suki knew none of them were right. None of them were really needed, now.

So in a gesture that probably went against most rituals, she spoke first, her voice shaking only slightly. "Sokka of the Southern Water Tribe…will you marry me? Will you fight with me every day and let me kick your butt in training sessions, and help break me out of prisons and tell bad jokes and be overprotective of me?"

Sokka raised his eyebrows, apparently shocked out of his reverie. "Is that the way you're supposed to—"

"Answer the question, Sokka." Suki looked him straight in the eyes, trying to conceal her churning emotions.

"No, I don't think I will." Suki stared at him, stunned. Was that a _challenge_ sparkling in his eyes? "Suki of the Kyoshi Warriors, will you marry _me?_ Will you humiliate me every day and save my butt and keep me from doing too many dumb things, and stand with me whenever I need you?"

Suki folded her arms, still trying not to let both laughter and tears escape from her. "I asked you first."

That old, familiar grin that she loved so much on him broke over Sokka's face. He folded his arms in a mirror-image of hers, his eyes daring her to break first.

They just looked at each other, the girl in her prison dress and necklace of flowers and the boy in his blue tunic holding a heart-shaped stone.

Nothing about this wedding was normal.

As Suki had hoped, no—as she had _known_—there really was no contest in the end. The second she saw him swallow in preparation to speak, she took her cue.

So in the end, their answers both came at the same exact moment, fierce whispers of promise in the near-silent clearing.

"Yes."

There was no one around to say, "You may kiss the bride." But just like so many other things in this strange ceremony, it wasn't needed.

The enemy birds sounded almost as if they were cheering, honking and bobbing their round heads and colored beaks with approval, as Sokka pulled Suki flush against him and smoothed her hair from her face so he could kiss her deeply, her arms twining around his neck with enthusiasm.

And the first star of the night lit up high above in the otherwise black sky, lending one last witness to the secret wedding.


End file.
